putting PC in a different room

souljas · Post by **souljas** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 6:26 am

Im planning on putting my rig in another room in my house and need some advice on how to go about it.

Basciallly here is my checkist of the things im gonna get. (the room is about 10m away)

- 10m dvi cable for monitor
- USB over cat5 extender (I dont think usb goes over 5m or so). This will be for my keyboard and mouse, and possibly an external DVD drive.
- I have no idea what to do about Audio?
- And is it possible to re-wire the power button to 10m?

any help would be appreciated thx!!

WR304 · Post by **WR304** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 6:39 am

You'd probably want to get a USB soundcard too.

For turning the computer on or off you could use the "wake on mouse/keyboard" option in the BIOS.

When you move the mouse or press a key it turns the PC on.

It depends on your motherboard whether it will work with USB devices or just PS2 mice and keyboards though.

kittle · Post by **kittle** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 12:20 pm

For Audio - just get a set of decent quality shielded cables and you'll do fine. Or you can grab a 10-15m chunk of cat5, some connectors and break out the soldering iron to make your own.

For the power switch - yes its possible to extend it. you would just need wires long enough and something to mount the switch on at your desk.

souljas · Post by **souljas** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 4:43 pm

heyy guys thanks for your replies.

I will try to see usb bios works on my mobo...need to find the manual first!

I found a swich to use for the power http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?ITA ... oy=6m9#faq
How do I actually extend the power cable? Do I cut it and use a small connector block to attach the cut cables together? or is there a more solid way to do it?

thanks

souljas · Post by **souljas** » Sat Sep 08, 2007 5:34 pm

hey guys..

I was just wondering which of these cables I could use in order to extend the power button?http://www.maplin.co.uk/Search.aspx?men ... =3&doy=9m9

and also what diameter is the circular part of a 120mm computer fan?

ddrueding1 · Post by **ddrueding1** » Sat Sep 08, 2007 7:24 pm

The "power" connector on a motherboard is 2 pins about 1-2mm apart. When you short them momentarily, the system turns on. Any wire/momentary switch will work.

scdr · Post by **scdr** » Sat Sep 08, 2007 9:43 pm

Another way to handle the power would be to control the outlet that the computer is connected to.

e.g. Plug computer into an extension cord, the extension cord plugged into
a switched surge protector or UPS in the room where you are.

Or use a remote controller and appliance module to switch the
computer (e.g. X10). Put controller in room where you are, and
plug computer into appliance module. (Bit more costly than extension
cord, but fewer cables to string). If the monitor was also plugged into an
appliance module with same code, you could turn whole thing on with one button.

In either case would need to set the computer to come on when power
is applied.

With either approach you would be able to turn everything off/on
with just one switch. (Rather than having to turn on monitor and CPU
separately.) Would also allow you to switch other devices where
computer is (e.g. speaker amplifier, printer, external modem).

ronrem · Post by **ronrem** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 7:36 pm

10 m or 30 ft is....as noted...possible but 3-4 m or 9-12 ft....such as an adjacent room or closet is FAR easier. eSATA allows 6ft of high speed transfer -or 2m, As I recall--USB2 allows about 3 times that. If you use about 16 ga wire,which you can get at any auto parts shop,with crimp connects,that's fine for an on-off switch even at 30 ft. For a shorter distance you'd use 18 ga or 20 ga. The power strip-extension cord route is simpler though.

Give some more thought to a way to have the puter closer....it would mean better performance and fewer complications.

lung · Post by **lung** » Thu Nov 01, 2007 11:28 pm

I tried this before. I moved the system some almost 30 meters away. Was a huge dissapointment. It was still so loud I could hear across the entire home since the only other noise being made was by a errant refrigerator.

You can chain USB extenders (1 port hubs with max length cables) together upto I think 5 or something? I would have to look. Still have a drawer full of those things if you are still in the market for some.

almalino · Post by **almalino** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 1:05 am

lung wrote:I tried this before. I moved the system some almost 30 meters away. Was a huge dissapointment. It was still so loud I could hear across the entire home since the only other noise being made was by a errant refrigerator.

You can chain USB extenders (1 port hubs with max length cables) together upto I think 5 or something? I would have to look. Still have a drawer full of those things if you are still in the market for some.

I put my computer in another room just behind the wall and it perfectly silent! I cannot hear it even though I'm living in small town in finland and there is no ambient noise at all. And the wall is wooden one so it doesn't absorb sound that well, still I do not hear my computer.

See details here:
viewtopic.php?t=43219